a student's look at eating, fitness, and studying

Tag: ricotta

After coming back from the East Bay last weekend, I felt unusually happy/self-confident/optimistic about life. I say “unusually” only because honestly, it has been a rarity for me to have these feelings hit me on a consistent basis. After years of dealing with depression and an eating disorder, as well as starting my recovery journey and really giving myself time to heal, grow, and learn about myself, I am now starting to feel ready to reach out and challenge myself with new and exciting things. I don’t feel as though I’m 100% recovered, but I feel I have improved SO much even after a little over a year of “real recovery”.

I feel ready to form more friendships and social relationships, to put myself out there and show the world who I really am. This readiness feels so thrilling and exciting, but at the same time I’m not sure what to expect. I’m putting myself in a really vulnerable position, but to be honest I’m not too afraid about that. In fact, I kind of want to challenge myself and shake things up from their current routine.

It’s going to be a slow process, but I think taking things slow is a wise decision for me at this point. If I want these changes to be sustainable and rooted, then I have to go about it carefully. But since it is all so new, it will feel like I have something to look forward to everyday 🙂

I can see I’m being vague about these “new and exciting changes”, but I just wanted to express how I’ve been feeling lately without going into TOO much detail…if things look promising, I’ll be able to disclose more ;)!

Besides embracing these all too-new feelings, I’ve also been embracing some new flavors of some recently tried and reviewed products. Before Vitamin Shoppe ended their BOGO 50% off D’s Naturals products promotion, I got the Raspberry Lava Cake and Salted Caramel Sundae flavors to try over the week. I go through jars of nut butters like nobody’s business so getting two for the week was just standard protocol 😛

D’s Naturals Raspberry Lava Cake

The Raspberry Lava Cake D’s Naturals spread tasted like mild chocolate peanut butter with a hint of fruit . A lot of the oil settled at the top and it was hard to get some to mix well at the bottom, but nevertheless it was a good flavor

The Salted Caramel Sundae had a smooth texture and taste that was easy on the palate. It From the two, I thought I would like RLC more, but I ended up having a stronger preference for SCS due to the fact that it has a smoother texture and flavor, and a mild caramel scent.

Salted Caramel Sundae D’s Naturals Spread

During the same trip to Vitamin Shoppe, I also found the birthday cake flavor of Optimum Nutrition’s cake bites. While I thought the other two flavors were alright, I thought these bites were perfection.

Optimum Nutrition Cake Bites – Birthday Cake

The white chocolate coating had a firm enough texture to allow for it to have some crunch. And the sprinkles…it was like these three little bites were designed to be served as kid-friendly petit fours.

On Saturday, I had to make a trek to the downtown area (haha, I remember when it was pretty much my backyard…). I was starving by the time 2pm hit, and pizza sounded like the best idea ever.

Blaze Pizza near DTLA

It was my first time checking out Blaze Pizza, and I knew from the likes of the menu that the Art Lover sounded the most appetizing.

Time to add some toppings.

After laying out my crust, the woman behind the counter added the essentials: … Yeah, I could have made a completely different pizza that was customized to my design, but I found comfort in the description of the Art Lover.

I saw people around me feeling too full, having to carry-out half eaten pizzas. I was able to stomach the whole thing and not feel like I was going to burst! I may have had Italian seasoning-breath for the rest of the day, but a good pizza pie is worth it.

About

Hi! You can just call me P. I'm an LA-Based Foodie, two-time marathoner, and a 3rd-year grad student with eyes on the PhD prize. I'm all about living healthy and happy, and cherishing the three best things in life---family, friends, and food! Thanks for stopping by :)